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Fringe 2015 review: "Cootie Catcher"

"Don't you fear god? No, I fear gonorrhea," says Lucas Brooks in his one-man play "Cootie Catcher." The play is essentially a humorous confessional of Brooks' sexual escapades and, of course, the STD scares that have accompanied them.

It's a light-hearted approach to an often complicated issue – getting tested – especially for a gay man in New York. In other words, you'll hear all about how painful it is to get your urethra swiped "ferociously" by a less-than-caring nurse. You'll see Brooks air-guitar after telling the audience about the time a straight guy gave him a hickey on his cock. And, you'll find out about Pap smears ... for a guy's ass.

What propels the play forward is Brooks' use of an actual cootie catcher – you know, those folded paper mechanisms used on elementary school playgrounds? Well, with a little help from the audience, Brooks uses the cootie catcher as a means of selecting an STD to discuss. Each time an STD is picked by the audience, the lights dim low, the music comes on, and we get sort of a go-go dancer intro for, say, Herpes!

This will undoubtedly be the most candid talk about STDs you'll ever sit through, and probably the funniest.